Virginia AG Update: Crucial Meeting in Richmond Underway

[brooklynite]

Source: Blue Virginia

An important meeting in Richmond is underway right now (1:28 pm) to determine the final vote count for Attorney General of Virginia. Updates below via CBS6 TV reporter Joe St. George (and others, if available). Note that as the meeting begins, Democrat Mark Herring trails Republican Mark Obenshain by just 17 votes out of over 2.2 million cast. Richmond, a heavily Democratic city, is of course crucial (as is Fairfax County, which will be finalized tomorrow).

UPDATE 1:48 pm by Dave Wasserman: "By my math, new statewide totals in #VAAG: Herring (D) 1,103,579, Obenshain (R) 1,103,480 #ShockoeSlipUp"

Read more: http://www.bluevirginia.us/showDiary.do?diaryId=10589#.UoElZl7oZXM.twitter

[Neurotica]

1. Awesome news!

BTW Dave Wasserman's twitter feed has been outstanding in keeping everyone informed about the latest developments. Truly an edge-of-your-seat drama and for those of us who live in Virginia, an extraordinarily important race.

[Coyotl]

11. This story logged since Thursday's "smoking gun" to today's "missing count"

#VAAG Race - Multiple Dem sources - "smoking gun" something is up Fairfax Co = 3,000 missing votes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024000076

[arcane1]

2. I'm curious to find out why the AG race is so close compared to the governor's race

Any ideas?

[StrayKat]

6. Less people vote for attorney general.

Usually about 30,000 less. The position is less heavily advertised and discussed in the media. Some people don't feel informed enough to vote so they leave it blank.

[Drunken Irishman]

7. Split voting and people not voting in the AG race for some odd reason.

[PatrynXX]

8. sorta depends

Republicans pulled a Mitt Romney on the Gov race and assumed they'd win. other than that depends on if they thought they might lose elsewhere

got two idiot rabbits each year now and both times the turtle won smh

[Coyotl]

12. Simple, not as despicable as the Cooch!

no-brainer

[SunSeeker]

20. Obenshein is every bit as despicable as the Cooch, just less known.

He wanted to criminalize miscarriages, proposing that women be required to report miscarriages within 24 hours or risk criminal penalties. Then, the state would use the information to investigate the miscarriage. Beyond creepy.

[Tikki]

14. Had that situation in last California AG race, our amazing Attorney General Kamala Harris did win..

and thank god…she has been one of the best things to happen to our State.

Some say that the reason some of these AG races are close is the misconception that 'checks and balances'
are needed and some see the AG as a line of defense.

Ms. Harris is so strong and determined that it would be a crying shame if she hadn't won after all.

I bet the same is going to be true in VA.

Tikki
ps..she eventually won with over 35,000 votes, but it appeared close for awhile.

[Mojorabbit]

21. I asked that in another post

I looked and the lt gov blew away his competition. The gov race had a libertarian candidate who took enough votes for the Dem to win but the AG race is a sqeaker. I don't live there and have no idea what kind of campaigns each candidate ran. It is weird.

[StrayKat]

3. What a nailbiter! n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Either way, that means a recount

I wonder by how much Herring really won. We'll probably never know.

You folks in Virginia, what reasons are each side putting forward to determine the discrepancy between the final poll numbers, which showed the Democrats pulling away, and the "actual" vote, which was much closer. Thank you in advance.

[Coyotl]

13. Moving out of recount territory now.

Given much of the state, especially the red counties, cannot change due to touch-screen voting, and a likely change of only +/- 30 votes, this one is over even if they demand a recount and waste the taxpayers money on it. Fairfax will still swell Herring's lead a bunch.

[onenote]

19. The tight result in the AG result is consistent with the polling

While the polls on the governor's race were all over the place, the polling on the AG's race has been remarkably consistent, showing the two candidates neck and neck over a period of several months. While an occasional outlier poll had one candidate or the other with a more decisive margin, most of the polls showed the candidates effectively tied, given the margin of error.

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2013-virginia-attorney-general-obenshain-vs-herring

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

5. Tell me about it; we're in Richmond.

[arcane1]

9. My home town!

[Neurotica]

10. Lucky you! An exciting place to be today.

A local reporter named Joe St. George is apparently covering all the developments if you have a chance to catch his updates.

[appleannie1]

15. Herring is ahead at this point.

[Happyhippychick]

16. Live twitter updates, Herring is ahead!!!!

https://twitter.com/JoeStGeorge

[beachbum bob]

17. recount will be done so we can wait another month

to see who wins

[Major Hogwash]

18. Recounts historically increase the lead of the winner, and Herring is ahead now.

So, they may do a recount, but it won't change the outcome.